Lafayette Up For $5 Million Award in Bloomberg Challenge

Lafayette has been chosen as one of 20 cities in the final running for the Bloomberg Philanthropies' Mayor Challenge, a competition created to inspire American cities to generate innovative ideas that solve major challenges and improve city life.

"We are thrilled that Lafayette is a finalist in the Mayors Challenge," said Lafayette City-Parish President Joey Durel.

The idea that Lafayette came up with is called "Level Up, Lafayette." The plan is for Lafayette residents to come up with "games" to spur community-wide involvement. Carlee Alm-Labar, who is part of the team that developed the idea, said Lafayette residents will create and play a range of games or contests to combat issues like health and wellness, civic engagement, and cultural participation.

"'Level Up, Lafayette' players will unlock achievements and earn rewards that benefit the entire community," she said. "It is sort of like a contest or a campaign which will encourage increased citizen engagement and teamwork to improve outcomes for the community."

The grand prize winner will get $5 million to implement their idea. Four $1 million prizes will also be awarded. Winners will be announced in the spring of 2013.

The 20 finalists were rated on four key criteria: vision/creativity, ability to implement, potential for impact, and potential for replication. A specially selection committee helped choose the finalist cities.

Some 305 cities from 45 states submitted entries for the competition. Mayors of cities larger than 30,000 were eligible to compete.